Popcorn with Peanut Butter Chocolate

New Year, new resolutions about blogging more consistently.

It's National Popcorn Day! Sharing a recipe to take your popcorn to the next level seems appropriate.
As a pastry chef, I'm always looking to bring a little sweetness to the world of snacks.  What goes better with sweet than salty?

Recipe

-popped corn (I use an air popper)
-salt
-55 grams dark chocolate
-10 g cocoa butter (or coconut oil)
-85 g peanut butter
-1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Arrange popcorn in a single layer in any dish, salt to taste.  In the microwave or in a bowl over a pot of simmering water, melt together the remaining ingredients, stirring frequently.  Pour mixture into a piping bag and drizzle over popcorn.  Let set and enjoy!

If you have any leftovers, pour it over your ice cream.

Parmesan Risotto

It's no great secret that risotto is a staple in my recipe repertoire.  I enjoy the process and the product.  High time I shared the recipe, huh?  Over the years I've tweaked my method and ingredients and hopefully perfected it.  But let's be real, you can't go wrong with Parmesan.

Parmesan Risotto
serves 4

-1 medium white/yellow onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-3/4 cup white wine
-1 cup Arborio rice
-3-4 cups chicken stock, hot
-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
-3 T unsalted butter
-pinch of sea salt
-1/4 tsp ground black pepper
-chopped parsley (optional)

1. In a medium-sized saucepan heat olive oil, onions and garlic until onion is soft and slightly translucent.  Add the rice and stir for 1 minute over medium heat.  Add wine and stir until the mixture is mostly dry 1-2 minutes.

2. Using a ladle, transfer about 1/2 cup of chicken stock from a hot pot into the rice mixture.  Stir until bubbling and a spoon dragged across the rice leaves a trail on the bottom of the pot.

3. Repeat step 2, stirring consistently and adding stock until the rice is al dente about 20 minutes.

4. Turn off heat and add Parmesan, salt, pepper, parsley and butter.  Stir until fully incorporated and melted.

Garden Fresh

Summer's end is bittersweet to say the least.  I dearly love the fruits of the garden and its slow fade to brown in the colder months builds both sorrow and anticipation.

So while they last I will enjoy the beauty of garden edibles.

Bartlett Pear

Bartlett Pear

Cherokee Tomato

Peanut Butter Almond Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

Ever in the mood for making cookies but have no thawed butter and no mixer either?  Peanut butter cookies are the most delicious solution to this baking conundrum.  No butter, flour or mixers required.

This variation has a little almond paste which could be swapped for just peanut butter.

Also, these little guys are gluten free.

Ingredients

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup almond paste (could use almond butter)
pinch salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a spatula or a wooden spoon until smooth.

2. Roll dough into uniform balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Smoosh with a fork.  Bake for 7-10 minutes at 325F (depending on size).  Cookies should still be soft to the touch.  Cool on baking sheet.

I formed mine into 10g pieces.

Almonds

Sometimes, I take a photograph that I really like.  Usually of a single ingredient.  In this case: almonds.

Almonds are a star ingredient in many classic pastries.  Whole, toasted, sliced, chopped, ground into flour, and pastes, almonds are a veritable workhorse in the pastry kitchen.  Happily, almonds are a healthy snack that will fill you up and give you lasting energy.  

The Perks

Protein

1 ounce of almonds has about 6 grams of protein.  By comparison, milk has about 1 gram of protein per ounce.  Protein helps you build muscle, feel full and keep your energy up.  

Minerals

Almonds contain high amounts of hard to get minerals like manganese, magnesium and iron.  For all the ladies trying to keep their bones healthy, look to almonds for iron and calcium.

Low in Sugar, High in Flavor

These beauties taste sweet without much natural sugar.  But steer clear of "honey-roasted" nuts that have oodles of added corn syrup and sugar.  Appreciate the natural flavor of a raw almond.

Sources: Self Nutrition Data and Nutrition and You

Immersion Blender 30 Second Mayonnaise

The handheld immersion blender is a kitchen tool that I most strongly recommend keeping around.  This power-tool of sorts emulsifies ingredients beautifully and easily, making dressings, milkshakes, ganache, and sauces easy as can be.

If you've ever made mayonnaise by hand you probably know 2 things.
1. it takes forever if you use a whisk
2. it tastes so much better than store bought mayo

The stick blender changes thing one without compromising taste.

Here's how it's done.

30 Second Mayonnaise

Ingredients

-1 egg
-3/4 cup oil (I use walnut)
-1/8 tsp sea salt
-pinch of ground black pepper
-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
-1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Place all ingredients in a glass jar or bowl and immerse the immersion blender.  Blend until completely emulsified, about 30 seconds.

Easy, right?  Plus the stuff will keep at least a week in the fridge.

Beach Food

I'm back from a much needed beach break in North Carolina.  I haven't made any recipes lately, but here are some pictures of our beach food.

Here is delicious Mr. Flounder, caught in the shallow waters near a serene North Carolina barrier island.

Does it get any more beach than watermelon?

Feisty Blue Crab, this photo includes his only claw.  

Fish taco fixins and what remains of Feisty Blue Crab.

Presto, Pesto

If you're looking for a way to use up scads of arugula, look no further than pesto!  It is an easy, flavorful, healthy way to use up extra zesty greens.

We make pesto every year from basil, parsley and wild Italian Arugula.  It keeps really well in the freezer, so you can eat it all year on your sandwiches, pasta and green beans.  Immersion blenders makes the process especially easy.

Orange Fish

Salmon is amazing.  Actually, just fish in general are amazing.  The texture, colors and flavors are varied and beautiful.  There is nothing to be afraid of when cooking fish.  Balance out your flavors: sweet, salty, umami, bitter, sour and you will be eating like royalty.

I love cooking fish in butter mixed with a little olive oil to raise the smoke point.  For salmon, I usually "quick-cure" by salting and sugaring it on all sides, leave at room temperature for about 20 minutes and then rinse.  Season as desired and away you go!

Local Apricots

It's almost impossible for me to see beautiful food without photographing it.  Apricots were $2.50/lb at The Local Market in Virginia.  They told me I could try one to see if I liked them which was entirely unnecessary because I knew I would.  

Where We Go From Here

It's been almost a year since my last post and I think my schedule finally affords me time to give this blogging thing another shot.

I have ideas, aspiration, inspiration and much to share.

Soon, I will add pages with products, pricing, ingredients, information and photo galleries.

Here's a taste of my backlog of photographs and projects.


With many, many thanks to Frances Logan Photography for design and photography wonders.

Sharing Espresso Chip
photo by Frances Logan Photography

Madeleine Piping
photo by Frances Logan Photographyhttp://www.francesloganphotography.com/

Mini Chocolate Cakes
photo by Frances Logan Photography

Signature Chipwich
photo by Frances Logan Photography

Madeleines and Lemon Curd
photo by Frances Logan Photography

Things that are Gluten Free

Mercy of mercies, ice cream and chocolate are gluten free.

I made mendiant with cashews, raisins and ground pistachios.  I just can't get over how cute mendiant are.  I tempered 70% Sharffen Berger, piped it with a paper cone and stuck in the fixins.  I cannot recommend this chocolate enough.

Plus, more coffee chip ice cream!

Goodbye to Gluten (For Now)

Much to the chagrin of my family I greatly enjoy food trends, books on food and healthy eating and general food conspiracy theories.  I think it's hard for them to keep up with what I am and am not eating at any given time.  

A few days ago I picked up David Perlmutter's Grain Brain at my local library.  I popped the audio book into the car and OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!  I AM GOING TO GET HORRIBLE DISEASES AND IT'S ALL GLUTEN'S FAULT!

Seriously though, the book has really made me think about what gluten is doing in my diet and how it could be detrimental to my health.  I can't say I vouch for any or all of the food warnings in this book, but I am just about convinced on the gluten/carbohydrate front.  So, I'm trying out a gluten free diet and to eat fewer carbohydrates.  This is day 1.

I got up this morning and didn't know what to do about my breakfast.  Cereal? No.  Oatmeal? No, Quaker oats aren't gluten free.  Toast?  Ah, nope.  Pancakes, waffles, muffins, french toast, croissant?  All off limits.  Obviously I needed to get to the store.  I settled on a bowl of peanut butter with macadamia nuts, chia seeds, honey and chocolate chips with some farmer's market strawberries and milk.  Not altogether bad.

Hours went by and I ate a Larabar, more fruit, eggs, cheese...and it soon became obvious that even though my body was nourished and I didn't feel hungry, I was craving gluten/carbohydrates.  And I still am.  It's probably safe to say that I'm actually addicted to it.  All the more reason to go without it for a while.  

I'll still be baking with gluten and possibly eating it again in the future.  But, I will try to develop some gluten-free recipes for those who are interested (and so that I can eat something that actually tastes good!!!)  This is not a food fad that I am going to force on other people.  I'll document a bit of this gluten free trial and let you know what good gluten free stuff I've found.

Gluten-Free Foods I've Tried

Decent but reminiscent of cardboard, messy, pricey

Delicious and definitely recommended, pricey

Much like Kit's, great ingredients, slightly better price...

Great taste, but I'm not thrilled about some of the ingredients (oils etc.)

More to come.  I'll be sure to start marking my gluten free recipes.